


(until your soul is) somehow wrapped round everything

by greenapricot



Series: Where the heart is [2]
Category: Shetland (TV)
Genre: M/M, how not to let your daughter know that you and her father are now more than co-parents, seasonal fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:08:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28458069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greenapricot/pseuds/greenapricot
Summary: “Holy shit,” Cassie says, her eyes as wide as saucers, hand covering her mouth. What little of her face Jimmy can see has gone bright red.“You’re home early,” Jimmy says, lamely.
Relationships: Duncan Hunter/Jimmy Perez
Series: Where the heart is [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2084421
Comments: 14
Kudos: 72





	(until your soul is) somehow wrapped round everything

**Author's Note:**

  * For [notajoinerofthings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/notajoinerofthings/gifts).



> This is a sequel to Where the heart is and will probably make more sense if you've read that. 
> 
> I have three other Christmas fics I’m actively working on, at least one of which I'd hoped to post before the end of the year. So, instead of working on any of those, I wrote this (which is also a Christmas fic) yesterday.
> 
> A million thanks to notajoinerofthings for the late night (for her) title brainstorming (this probably would have been called Where the heart is 2 without her help) and general constant Shetland fic inspiration.
> 
> Title paraphrased from [Home](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44313/home-56d2235c059bf) By Edgar Albert Guest (which has really lovely Jimmy Perez vibes imo).
> 
> Also, fair warning, this starts out with porn.

Duncan takes Jimmy’s nipple into his mouth and, _Christ_ , that has no right to feel as good as it does. Jimmy arches up off the bed and Duncan’s hand slides down his chest, over his stomach and takes hold of his already hard cock. Jimmy moans, Duncan snickers, and a faint sound that’s reminiscent of the front door closing barely registers through the haze of arousal as Duncan starts stroking him in earnest. 

“Oh, fuck,” Jimmy gasps. Duncan does that thing with the twist of his fingers that Jimmy has come to love over the past two days. How can it only have been two days? Two glorious days. Duncan’s mouth follows the path his hand just travelled and his lips close over Jimmy’s cock. Duncan is very good at this, someday when he thinks he can handle the answer without being consumed by jealousy, Jimmy will ask how he got so good.

Duncan hums low in the back of his throat sending delicious vibrations to every part of Jimmy’s being. He grips Duncan’s hair, maybe a little too tight, and pulls; another thing he’s discovered about Duncan over the past two days. Duncan whines and takes Jimmy in deeper, and Jimmy ignores the strange sound from downstairs that is probably nothing. The neighbour’s cat must have gotten in again. It doesn’t matter, there’s no one here but them. Just the two of them and Duncan’s beautiful mouth.

“Duncan,” Jimmy moans. Duncan smiles around Jimmy’s cock. Which is, _God_ , a look for the ages. He’s going to have a hard time not thinking about this when Duncan flashes him that smile in the bistro from now on. Duncan hums again, does something complicated with his tongue, and, _fuck_ , he’s close.

Another sound from downstairs, and then, “Dad?” 

“Fuck,” Jimmy says, for an entirely different reason. Not the neighbour cat. He half sits up, pulling away from Duncan as much as he can with Duncan draped over his legs as he is.

Duncan pulls off of Jimmy’s cock, confusion crossing his face. “What’s—?” 

“Are you home?” Cassie’s voice filters up from downstairs. “Your coat’s here.” 

“Shit.” Duncan scrambles away from Jimmy and grabs for the first piece of clothing he finds on the floor next to the bed.

Footsteps on the stairs, the creak of hinges as the door to Duncan’s room opens. “Duncan?” More footsteps. Cassie is right outside the bedroom door, which is only partway closed. Thank God they closed it that much. They hadn’t closed it at all yesterday. “Dad? You’re not sick are you?”

“No!” Jimmy half shouts, shooting a look at Duncan, who looks as panicked as Jimmy feels. Jimmy can’t find his pants so he pulls his jeans on without them. 

“Is Duncan at the bistro?”

“No,” Jimmy says again, in something approximating a normal tone, as he struggles into his jumper which isn’t fitting right.

“Can I come in? You’re not—”

Duncan stumbles while pulling on his jeans, Jimmy’s favourite rather tight-fitting jeans—oh God, don’t think about that now—and stubs his toe on the corner of the bedpost. 

“Fuck,” Duncan says.

“Oh.” Cassie’s voice rises. “Someone’s in there with you?”

Jimmy freezes, Duncan tilts his head toward the door and raises his eyebrows. Jimmy shakes his head but Duncan either doesn’t understand or doesn’t listen. He pulls the door open. 

“Only me,” Duncan says as the door swings in. They’ve both managed to pull on their own jeans, but Duncan’s jumper—Jimmy’s jumper, though not the one he’d been wearing when Jimmy took it off him half an hour ago—is on inside out and the jumper Jimmy’s wearing is on backwards. 

“Holy shit,” Cassie says, her eyes as wide as saucers, hand covering her mouth. What little of her face Jimmy can see has gone bright red.

“You’re home early,” Jimmy says, lamely. 

“You weren’t—?” She looks from Jimmy to Duncan then back. Duncan’s hair is sticking up every which way, his lips are red, he looks like he’s been… doing exactly what he was doing before Cassie came upstairs. Jimmy’s sure he doesn’t look any better. He can feel the bloom of a love bite where his jumper collar is rubbing against it. “Oh God, you were. Holy shit! I can’t believe—”

“Cass, we didn’t—”

“It’s fine,” she says, backing down the hallway. “I’m not— Jesus. Go shower. But not together! I’ll be in the living room.” And then she’s gone, muttering, _oh God, holy shit_ , as she retreats down the stairs. 

“Guess we don’t have to figure out how we were going to tell her,” Duncan says, with a shrug and a sheepish grin.

“Aye.” Jimmy sighs and sits down on the bed, which is in complete disarray, the sheets twisted and the duvet bunched up on the floor; as if the state of the two of them wasn’t bad enough. This is not how they’d planned to tell her. Not that they had a fully formed plan, Duncan has been very effective at distracting Jimmy from that conversation, and it’s not as if Jimmy minds the distraction. At all. But Cassie nearly walking in on them… “This is definitely worse than breaking it to her gently over dinner by holding hands at the table.” 

“I don’t know.” Duncan sits next to him and pats Jimmy’s knee placatingly. “This way she can come to terms with it on her own for a bit before we talk to her.”

“We, eh?”

“Well, you obviously. If I shower first I’m liable to use up all the hot water. You hate that.”

Jimmy stuffs a pillow in his face and leaves the room before Duncan can retaliate. 

Showered and wearing a collared shirt to hide the now very purple love bite, Jimmy heads quietly downstairs. Cassie is on the sofa, legs curled under her and headphones in, reading a book in the glow of the fairy lights on the Christmas tree. There is a glass of wine balanced on the arm of the sofa next to her. She looks serene, not like someone who’s almost walked in on her parents having sex. Her parents who as far as she knew weren’t romantically involved. He watches her for a minute as she turns a page and takes a sip of wine, smiling at whatever she’s reading. God, he loves his girl. 

He flips the switch to turn on the lamp by the sofa and Cassie looks up, pulling out her headphones.

“You shouldn’t read in the dark,” Jimmy says mildly.

“Yeah, yeah.” Cassie rolls her eyes and closes her book. “I opened the wine,” she says, gesturing toward the kitchen and the bottle Jimmy and Duncan had planned to open while they made dinner. Before they got distracted. He’s going to have to build up a tolerance to Duncan’s constant distractions before the next case comes in.

Jimmy pours himself a glass of wine, leaving the half cut-up vegetables where they are on the cutting board, and sits next to Cassie. She puts her book down and twists sideways on the sofa to face him. 

“I’m sorry,” Jimmy says. “We didn’t mean for you to find out like that. We weren’t— We didn’t not tell you on purpose. It’s only been a couple of days and we thought…” He can feel his face going hot and Cassie looks like she’s trying hard not to laugh. Christ, he’s making a right hash of this. “You said you weren’t coming home until Christmas Eve.” 

Cassie does laugh, then. “Dad, it’s fine. You sounded so disappointed I wasn’t coming earlier, I thought I’d surprise you.”

Jimmy huffs out a laugh. “Well, you did that.” 

“Not as much as you surprised me.” Cassie smirks at him. “When did you—?” 

“The station Christmas party.”

“Really?”

“Aye,” Jimmy says. He knows he’s got a love-struck grin on his face but he can’t help himself. He takes a large sip of wine. 

“Wow,” Cassie says, poking him with her foot. “Look at you.”

“So, you’re all right with it, then?”

“As long as I don’t have to see that again,” she says, waving her hand in the direction of the stairs. She takes a sip of wine and looks at Jimmy, contemplative. “But of course I am. You look happy.”

“Aye. I am. More than—” Jimmy runs his hand over the back of his neck. He can’t stop smiling. “You have no idea how happy. I had no idea.”

“I don’t know, I might have some idea.” Cassie reaches for his hand where it’s resting on his knee and squeezes it. “I’ve never seen you smile so much.” She gives him that bright smile of hers, the one that’s so much like Duncan’s, and he has to clear his throat to keep the love he has for both of them from overwhelming him. “I’m happy for you.” 

“I’m glad,” Jimmy says. Now that it’s no longer an issue, Jimmy realises how nervous he’d been about telling Cassie, and how ridiculous that seems now. Of course, she’s happy for him. Why was he worried she’d be anything but?

“Hey,” Duncan says. He’s leaning on the wall next to the stairs, arms crossed over his chest, watching them. Jimmy didn’t even hear him come down. “I see you opened the wine without me.” 

“Traumatised daughter’s privilege,” Cassie says with mock-seriousness.

“Aye, yeah.” Duncan ducks his head and runs his hand through his hair, but he’s smiling. “Sorry about that.” 

“Not very sorry,” Cassie says.

Duncan laughs, gesturing between himself and Jimmy. “You’re all right with all this?”

“Have you both turned into worriers now?”

“Not me.” Duncan beams at her and flashes Jimmy a relieved look. 

He crosses the room and kisses Cassie on the cheek, half turns to go to the kitchen, then turns back and kisses Jimmy too. On the lips. Right next to their daughter. The warmth in Jimmy’s chest grows three sizes and he grabs Duncan by the arm, pulling him down onto the sofa next to him. Duncan plucks Jimmy’s wine glass off the coffee table and drinks half of it.

“God, you two are going to be awful, aren’t you?” Cassie says, smiling at them indulgently. “Maybe I’ll go back to Glasgow before New Years.” 

“Not a chance.” Jimmy reaches for Cassie and pulls her in close as well, his arms around both of the people he loves the most in the world. “Now that I’ve got you both here I’m keeping you as long as I can.”

“I love you, Dad,” Cassie says, kissing him on the cheek. 

“I love you too, Cass.”

“Not to interrupt or anything,” Duncan says from Jimmy’s other side. “But when you say here do you mean here on this sofa or here in the house?” 

“I suppose in the house will do,” Jimmy says. 

“Dinner for three, then?” Duncan stands, using Jimmy’s knee to lever himself up, and Jimmy wonders if Duncan’s causal touches will ever stop giving him a wee thrill. 

“Aye,” Jimmy lifts his wine glass in Duncan’s direction. “And more wine.”

“Me too,” Cassie says, holding out her glass. Duncan takes both glasses and heads for the kitchen. 

Cassie’s giving Jimmy an odd look when he turns back to her.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she says. “It’s just, with Duncan living here and the bistro and all, it’s not that different, is it? Besides the kissing.” 

Jimmy smiles. “I do like the kissing.” 

“So do I,” says Duncan from the kitchen. Cassie rolls her eyes. “The price for more wine is to help finish the chopping, though,” Duncan continues. 

“Guess we’d better get to it,” Jimmy says. 

“Yep,” Cassie says, popping the p. Jimmy follows her to the kitchen.

It’s going to be a good Christmas. It’s going to be the best Christmas they’ve had in a good long while.


End file.
